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| Fig. 1. |
Pages of a Bilston japanners design book from about 1761, held at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, USA. It is thought to be from a Bilston maker as another book bought with it, from a later date, has 'Bilston' written on it. This pattern book is probably from the 1760s, though, as some of the designs (figs. 11-14) have designs celebrating the coronation of George III, which was on 22 September 1761. This is an excellent survival, as japanned boxes are liable to damage as the varnish and paint gets chipped away, so provides insight into what boxes might have looked like at this time, and many similar examples were made in Birmingham.
The pages probably formed a design book rather than a trade catalogue, as many of the illustrations are very rough and contain instructions for decorating, so the book was probably a guide for the painters. One such painter was
James Bisset, who had been apprenticed as a box-painter to Thomas Bellamy, a Birmingham japanner, in 1777.
*2* Bisset later recalled that his ‘daily task was two gross of Snuff Boxes or six dozen of small Painted Waiters – but I have very frequently painted 3 gross [432] of Boxes in a day’. This daily output from one individual at one manufactory depicts the extent of mass-production in Birmingham, as Bellamy was among several japanners at this time. Bisset also recorded the process: ‘Every Box was to have a flower painted on it of Three Colours, with the leaves touched with a light & dark shade; or we might paint flies, Butterflies, Insects, fruit or Landscapes on the Snuff Box lids, but with none less than three different colours’.* A selection of boxes from this period, painted in similar ways, are interspersed with the pages of the book,
below.
The design book was noted by Robert Charleston who surmised that it was an enameller’s book, but there are several reasons that this is almost certainly not the case.* Firstly, many of the designs include ‘Oriental’ imagery rarely found on enamel but frequently found on japan-ware. Secondly, methods of colouring were described on the pages, such as ‘Virmilion Dip on Black’, ‘Green Grounds’, and ‘Silver ground Umber Dip’, which are all darker shades utilised on japanned goods. Thirdly, one sheet has the words ‘Cut paper Boxes 2/6’ written on it, which is highly suggestive of papier mâché bases, only used in japanning. Considering the lack of surviving japanned toys dated to this period, the design book is highly valuable, especially as it includes smaller designs which likely represent buttons, which have no counterpart in museum collections.
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NOTES
* References on request.
*2* National Archives, Country Apprentices 1710-1808, 29 f 145.
